Missionary family, who left for Papua New Guinea in 2001, returns to share their story

Missionary family, who left for Papua New Guinea in 2001, returns to share their story

Sioux City, IA (Siouxland News) -- In 2001 the Luse family set off on a trip to try and better the lives of the people in Papua New Guinea.

Aaron and Lori Luse lived among the tribes in Papa New Guinea, learning their way of life and even learning their language Papua-tar.

Aaron said, "Once we got to a point where we were fluent in the Papua-tar language, that's when then we could start becoming the teacher. We developed a literacy program for them, now they not only spoke the language but they had it written down."

A special instance for the family was Lori's friend Anna, who never had the opportunity to learn to read and write but always wanted to, due to the literacy program, Anna finally got her chance.

"It was really really cool to see how that changed her life and to see how she was so hungry to learn and read and know things for herself," said Lori.

And after Anna graduated the program, Aaron recalls a very special moment.

"Anna was sitting in the grass and she had her little boy in her lap and we had given out these little booklets to all the graduates and she was reading for the first time this little booklet to her boy," recalled Aaron.

The Luse family went through many more experiences like this one, but now that they are back in the states, the family has found themselves with a learning curve of their own.

"They didn't have Bluetooth and cell phones weren't all that common when we left in 2001 and we've just seen that more over the years. Social media, Facebook, just all those things, you know there's just been so many changes," said Lori.

Even with those changes the family says they are glad to be home and have the ability to reconnect with family and friends.

But they miss being with the people of Papua New Guinea who they now consider family.

"When we were finishing, when we left we were family. We called them, we had that kinship. In terms we had mom and dad and brother and sister. They adopted us in," said Aaron.

And now that the family is home they plan on retelling their stories but also relaying messages from the people of Papa New Guinea.

Aaron said, "We went over there thinking, yeah we'll teach the people these things but in reality, man we were learning lessons everyday, they were teaching us and it was a mutual growth for both of us."

Aaron and Lori along with their four girls plan on going back to Papua New Guinea sometime in the summer of 2018.

Sunnybrook Church will be hosting a book signing for Aaron's book "Tales from the Tribe."

In the book Aaron recalls many stories from the family's time in Papa New Guinea.